It is difficult to imagine a culture that serves no adaptive functions. Indeed, scholars agree that, for a culture to endure, it must contribute to the survival of the species, the optimal functioning of the society in which it exists, as well as to the optimal psychological functioning of the individuals comprising that culture (Chiu & Hong, 2006; Lehman, Chiu, & Schaller, 2004; Schaller & Crandall, 2004). Although there are various adaptive roles that cultures play, my focus in this chapter will be on the existential functions of culture; more specifically, on how cultures help their constituents deal with the ultimate questions of existence, such as how to live a meaningful life in the face of inevitable death. I will argue that individuals are strongly motivated to deny their basic creatureliness and to try to outshine death and decay; and it is through participating in and contributing to culture that they attempt to become eligible for immortality – be it literal or symbolic. I will start with a discussion of why the human craving to transcend death is so potent, and then move on to the various ways in which culture permits us to satisfy this craving.

The dread of mortality

Evolution has imbued humans with the capacity to mentally travel through time and to represent the self 's extended existence through time by reminiscing about the past, being aware of the present, and anticipating the future (Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997). This unique ability has allowed our ancestors to learn from the past and to plan for the future; freed human kind from becoming slaves to the immediate environment; and, combined with the development of symbolic thought, rendered the accumulation of cultural knowledge possible. The exact same developments that set the stage for the emergence of culture and bestowed humans with an unsurpassed position of dominance in nature, however, concomitantly led them to the agonizing awareness of mortality. Novelist David Lodge vividly portrays the tragic consequences of self-consciousness for humans: “Imagine what a terrible shock it was to Neanderthal Man, or Cro-Magnon Man, or whoever it was that first clocked the dreadful truth: that one day he would be meat. Lions and tigers don't know that. Apes don't know it. We do” (2002, p. 102).